纪录片《恐龙灭绝真相》 第14期 第二次碰撞

The Iridium must have come from an asteroid¹, but it must have been a second impact, three hundred thousand years later,

铱只能来自小行星，但那肯定已是30万年后的第二次碰撞，

for which we simply don't know where the crater² is

我们并不知道这个陨石坑在哪，

and it is that impact that probably finished off the dinosaurs³.

可能正是这次碰撞结束了恐龙时代。

If Keller was right, there hadn't been one impact but two.

如果Keller是对的，那么碰撞就不是一次，而是两次。

The first, Chicxulub, would have been devastating⁴ enough.

第一次是毁天灭地的希克苏鲁伯大碰撞。

It would have killed many dinosaurs...

它杀死了无数恐龙...

but it did not drive them to extinction⁵, and it didn't create the Iridium layer.

但它并没有使它们灭绝，也没有形成铱元素层。

According to Keller and Stinnesbeck, even as earth absorbed the Chicxulub impact,

根据Keller和Stinnesbeck的理论，在希克苏鲁伯大碰撞阵痛未消之际，

deep in outer space a second asteroid was hurtling toward the planet

太空深处又有第二颗小行星正向地球飞来，

and this was the asteroid that left the telltale Iridium, and finished off the dinosaurs.

这颗小行星带来了铱元素，并且最终终结了恐龙。

1 asteroid   

n.小行星；海盘车(动物)

参考例句：

• Astronomers have yet to witness an asteroid impact with another planet.天文学家还没有目击过小行星撞击其它行星。
• It's very unlikely that an asteroid will crash into Earth but the danger exists.小行星撞地球的可能性很小，但这样的危险还是存在的。

2 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

3 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

5 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。